Juin 2018

" The epigenetic code of influenza A virus nucleoprotein defines replication steps and place in infected cells "

Dr. Ke XU (Institut Pasteur Shanghai)

Contact : Carine Maisse-Paradisi

Vendredi
01/06/2018
11h00

Salle des thèses Chantal Rabourdin-Combe

« Dissecting the sources of phenotypic variation among genetically identical individuals growing in the same environment »

Mirko FRANCESCONI (Centre de Regulacio Genomica, Barcelona)

Genetically identical individuals growing in the same environment often show substantial phenotypic variation. The reasons for this phenotypic variation are usually unknown. We found that isogenic C. elegans growing in the same environment differ in developmental speed, including the relative developmental rate of the soma and the germline (soma-germline heterochrony), fecundity and many other fitness important traits such as size and resistance to early starvation. We found maternal age to be the major determinant of this phenotypic variation in with progeny of young mothers being surprisingly impaired in size, developmental speed, starvation resistance and fecundity, and they also show different soma-germline heterochrony. Changes in maternal provisioning of yolk to the embryo, which increases with age, explain many of these phenotypic differences but do not explain differences in soma-germline heterochrony and fecundity. We now have obtained preliminary results showing that parental exposure to pheromone also induces phenotypic differences in the offspring, including soma-germline heterochrony and fecundity, which are not explained by a change in yolk provisioning.

Thousands of cancer patients worldwide are taking RANKL inhibitors for the management of bone metastasis, based on the key role of RANKL and its receptor, RANK, in osteoclasts. I will comment on the role of RANK signaling in mammary gland development and cancer using mouse models and human clinical samples and the possibility of using RANK pathway inhibitors for the treatment of breast cancer. Finally I will discuss the multiple divergent effects in immunity and inflammation that RANK pathway has and how they may influence tumor immunity.